Second of tenchildren born to a peasant family. She received only four years of school, quitting to take over housekeeping from her mother, Grazia, who was bed-ridden with a heart condition. Joined Catholic Action at age ten, becoming an active and lively member and recruiter. At age 16, while out gathering wood for home, she was beaten and murdered by a teenage would-be rapist, fighting him off to her last breath; considered a martyr to purity.